Civil Rights and Labor Movements in the Pacific Northwest
Prof. James Gregory
Office Hours:
312B Smith 543-7792
email: gregoryj@u.washington.edu
This class explores the history of social justice activism in the Pacific Northwest. Civil rights movements representing many different communities, labor unions, women’s movements, LGBTQ activists, and various radical organizations have played major roles in defining political values in the area since the late 19th century. No other region has a more vibrant history of labor and civil rights activism. Students will design research projects that examine particular issues, events, or organizations related to this theme.
The UW History Department is home to the online Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium, a set of website projects that explore issues relating to this course. Students in earlier HSTRY 498 seminars have been involved in producing these projects and there may be an opportunity for some students in the current class to publish their research papers. You will find the projects here Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium
Here are the principal projects:
- Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project
- Seattle General Strike of 1919 Project
- Great Depression in Washington State Project
- Antiwar and Radical History Project
- Mapping American Social Movements
- Racial Restrictive Covenants Project
General method of instruction
This seminar is a hands-on historical research project. We will not only read about the history of civil rights and labor movements; we will also be producing historical materials and interpretations that will be valuable to others interested in this subject. There is one major assignment: a 15+ page research paper on an issue, incident, organization, or individual. If the quality of the work warrants it, these reports may be published as part of one of the Consortium web projects. In addition, students will keep a research journal and turn in short assignments based on it. At the end of the quarter students will deliver a 15 minute research presentation.
Tentative Schedule (Please note: attendance is mandatory. I expect to be notified if you must miss a class.) Schedule is subject to change.
Sept 26: introductions; look over the list of Research Topics and Sources
Oct 3 class preparation:
- Read: Quintard Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994), chapters 2,3,4 and 6. Read: Gigi Peterson, "Recobrando / Recovering The Struggle against Racial Discrimination: The Journey of the Pablo O’Higgins Mural for Seattle Ship Scalers Union," Labor: Studies in Working-Class History, Volume 8, Issue 4 (2011) pp.7-40. (download both readings here)
- Assignment: upload a 1-2 page response to each reading. (1) What does Taylor argue about civil rights activism in the Black Community and the Japanese American community? (2) Summarize Peterson's argument in one paragraph. Evaluate her sources in a second paragraph. Due by 11:00 am.
Oct 10 class preparation: Assignment: Upload a 1-2 page description of your research topic. Due by 11:00 am.
Oct 17 class preparation: Locate and read two secondary sources and at least one primary source. Upload a 1-2 page report on sources. Due by 11:00 am.
Oct 24 class preparation: reading TBA. Turn in research journal pages for week. Due by 11:00 am.
Oct 31 class preparation: reading TBA. Turn in research journal pages for week. Due by 11:00 am.
Nov 7: class preparation: Turn in research journal pages for week. Due by 11:00 am.
Nov 14: class preparation: Turn in research journal pages for week. Due by 11:00 am.
Nov 18 (Sunday): Rough Draft due by midnight
Nov 21: no class
Nov 28: no class
Dec 5: Research presentations
Dec 6 (Friday) 12-2:30: Research presentations
Research Projects
Papers will involve research in both primary and secondary sources. I have listed some potential topics below but you are welcome to propose others.
WTO “Battle in Seattle” after 25 years:
November 30 marks the 25th anniversary of the protests that shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle, a confrontation that had world-changing impacts. The “battle in Seattle” changed the conversation about the rules of global trade and marked a new direction for progressive social movements. Organized labor - the AFL-CIO - had been cautious and sometimes conservative for several decades, but in 1999 with tens of thousands of union members joining the protest, the AFL-CIO embarked on a turn that has made it active in progressive causes ever since. And a critical new alliance was part of it. “Teamsters and Turtles: They’re Together at Last” read a charming headline in the Los Angeles Times, recognizing the start of the “blue-green alliance” between labor and environmentalists that remains viable today.
- I will suggest a variety of research topics related to these events.
Other topics
- Before internment: Seattle’s Japanese Community 1910-1941: examine the economic and community life of Nihonmachi
- Miller Freeman and the anti-Japanese origin of Bellevue: The founder/developer of Bellevue was also the leader of the Anti-Japanese League
- Colored Marine Employment Benevolent Association and Maritime unionism 1921-34: Excluded from white unions, Black and Asian workers sometimes formed their own labor organizations.
- African American Activism in the 1930s The NAACP and Communist Party were involved in pioneering civil rights campaigns
- Filipino deportation campaign 1948-53 When the feds tried to deport leaders of the Cannery Workers union, attorneys won a landmark Supreme Court ruling
- Passing the 1949 Fair Employment Practices Act Civil rights activists lobbied the legislature to pass a fair employment act which turned out to be weaker than expected.
- Anti-Defamation League of the B’Nai B’rith—Fighting Anti-Semitism Examine the history of Jewish civil rights activism
- The Civic Unity Committee and the 1940s campaign against discrimination This city sponsored committee led educational campaigns against discrimination with some effect
- Narrating Seattle’s Pan-Asian Youth Movement: Asian Family Affair newspaper 1972-1982 This radical Asian American newspaper helped shape a movement and a new consciousness
- Mineo Katagiri and the Asian Coalition for Equality (ACE), 1968-70 ACE and the Oriental Student union were two of new Asian American radical organizations
- Geography of the American Indian Movement 1970-1990. AIM was the most publicized and persecuted of the Indigenous American movements fighting for rights and sovereignty.
- Fascism in the Pacific Northwest: The Silver Shirt Legion William Dudley Pelley’s Silver Legion of America was one of the most prominent attempts to develop an American fascist party during the Great Depression.
- Organizing Women Garment Workers in 1930s
- Launching the CIO on the West Coast 1937-1940 when the American Federation of Labor expelled the CIO unions in 1937, a west-coast CIO was launched, led by the newly independent Longshore workers union, the ILWU. Over the next few years CIO unions fought with AFL unions for jurisdiction in many industries.
- 1936 Longshore strike
- 1948 Boeing strike